1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for etching a rear side of a semiconductor substrate having a resist-free front side, and an etching system suitable therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has become known from German patent publication DE-A19502777.9 (U.S. application Ser. No. 08/764,703) a method and a device, in which the layers on the rear side of the semiconductor substrate which are to be removed can be etched with a microwave-excited or RF-excited chemical down-stream method with the use of compounds that contain fluorine. A disadvantage with this method is that thick thermal oxide layers cannot be removed because of the insufficient etching rates.